Rainbow Leap
by hahatimeforponies
Summary: Twilight has a speed test for Rainbow Dash, and she jumps at the call, but afterwards, something seems slightly off... Warnings: Weird plot, minor grimdark and shipping elements, heavy Cupcakes references.
1. Supersonic

A/N: Parts of this story will make a lot more sense if you've read the following stories: _Cupcakes _by Sgt. Sprinkles, _Rocket to Insanity _by Scherzo, and _A Precious Rainbow_, _The Cupcake Killer_ and _Apple of Her Eye_ by milesprower06. They're not critical to the understanding of the story, but if you plan on reading them, this story will spoil them.

* * *

><p>"I still don't get how this is supposed to make me go <em>faster<em>, Twi." In her usual impatient tones, the blue-and-rainbow pony complained about the treatment she was being subjected to.

"Ugh, Rainbow Dash, I'm not going over how the suit works again. You're just going to have to trust me - I've spent months working on this!" Twilight Sparkle's claim was validated by her slightly frazzled mane and bagged eyes. Since witnessing the Sonic Rainboom first hand, she'd had a brainwave, and had been working nights and weekends on what she called the High End Velocity suit. _HEV suit? Sounds like it's from a video game_, Dash thought to herself every time the name came up. It wasn't exactly designed with high fashion in mind, and looked as much like a navy blue spacesuit as anything else. Possibly not quite so bulky, and not all-enclosing - Rainbow's wings were largely free-hanging apart from a set of rigid, hinged spines anchored to the main bone line of the wing for reinforcement - and rather than a helmet, there was just a pair of "dashing" (pardon Twilight's pun) goggles and something like a pilot's mask, hanging from a strap on the chest, and a chest panel that appeared to have some mechanism in it. "It's not too restricting is it?"

The pegasus responded with a prompt leap into the air, flying somersault, and a thud upon landing again. "Eh, needs to be abo-"

"So help me Celestia I will smack you if you finish that sentence." Glaring at her friend, the pair left the library and set off for the meadow.

In the meadow not far from Ponyville, Rainbow did a little more practice in the suit, starting to get a grip on how it altered her flying, not too concerned about the "how". Sure enough, there was definitely a little more speed there, and she was really feeling some of those G-forces on the cornering, but she still didn't quite get it. Twilight tinkered with a little box with some flashy lights and buttons.

"I don't get it Twi, I thought magic was your thing, not science," Dash inquired as she floated down next to her upside down, head resting on her forehooves. The unicorn chuckled in response.

"You'd be surprised how much the two have in common." Dash shrugged.

"So what do you want me to do again?"

"For the _sixth_ time, I need you to go for a Sonic Rainboom, and then keep going. We're going to see just how fast you can really go!"

"Oh boy!" With nary another word, the cyan pegasus was already away, just a rainbow blur behind her, nearly forgetting to put on the mask and goggles. Sure enough, she took off and got up to a cruising speed, doing some rounds to warm up and accelerate to higher subsonic speeds. Already the run was going quicker than usual - the suit was definitely playing its part. Deciding to push herself a little further than usual, Rainbow started going higher in altitude, taking advantage of the mask's oxygen supply to ascend rapidly. After nearly a minute of almost perfectly vertical flying, taking herself to the edge of space, she banked around and turned back down, adding gravity to her acceleration. Not ten seconds after her course change, the Sonic Rainboom's signature Mach cone started forming, and in just five more, had already closed around her form, and she pierced the sound barrier, causing its signature explosion of radiant colours, high up enough in the air that, while barely visible, it could be seen all over Equestria. Not content with that, she continued her descent, pushing for more, really feeling like there was more in her. Banking up to level with sufficient centrifugal force to make her more than just a little bit dizzy, she continued on a level plane, about five hundred feet above the land surface, Ponyville coming up fast in her field of vision. With a gulp and renewed, grizzled determination, she pressed forward, flying faster than she had ever gone in her life. She passed by the meadow in a split second, a shockwave of wind following her (knocking Spike over as he took notes for Twilight).

As her speed increased, interesting side effects began to follow. To Rainbow, the centre of her field of vision began to become brighter, while around the edges it was starting to darken. To the citizens of Ponyville (but only those with quick enough eyes to even catch a glimpse of her), they would see a dazzling cone of bright white light with a rainbow streak behind it tear across the sky, followed by a brilliant, blinding flash, lighting up the sky like a supernova. But for the little blue pegasus as the centre of it all, it was a different story. The increasingly bright light in the centre of her vision outshone everything else engulfing her in pure white. Seconds ago, she was experiencing the intense forces of supersonic flight and the physical exertion needed to reach it, but now... it all went away. All sense of motion left her, all fatigue departed, even the feeling of the bulky suit disappeared.

Funny things happen when you break the light barrier.


	2. Uncanny Valley

_Ouch. That bump wasn't there before._

Shaking herself awake, the blue pegasus scrambled upright, her head throbbing. A low hanging lamp, the first thing to become clear in her vision, appeared to be the culprit for that.

"Dashie, are you okay? That mean ol' lamp attacked you!" she heard, the sound slowly becoming less hazy. _Pinkie Pie? What's she doing here? More to the point, what am I doing here? I thought I was flyi-_

"She's come to, we can move on to the next take." somepony shouted in the background. Rainbow Dash looked around, things slowly becoming clearer. There was Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down in her usual manner, and all sorts of cameras, grips and dollies lying around. A film set?

"Where am I?" She muttered to herself.

"Oh silly, you're in my basement, helping us with a movie!" Pinkie helpfully answered.

"Movie...? Wh-"

"Oh don't tell me that nasty lamp gave you amnesia, did it? Why I oughtta take that thing outta here and teach it a thing or two about manners, then send it to its room with no cake." _Definitely Pinkie Pie._

"Uhh... maybe...?" _Sure, let's go with that._ "Can I just go outside for a little bit? I think I, uh, need some air,"

Once out of the set's half-light, and into the daylight out the back of Sugarcube Corner, Dash noticed something else was off. When looking back at the door, she noticed that her flank was covered in all sorts of scars, including a bunch of nails apparently sticking out of her hind legs, and big crimson scars dripping red on her flank, just over her cutie mark. She screamed, not even noticing that none of these "scars" hurt in the slightest, and she fell over in shock, knocking some contents from the table onto her. A (mercifully closed) bottle of water rolled off her shoulder, a a paperclip fell into her mouth (causing her to accidentally swallow it, spending a few minutes coughing and hacking before regaining any semblance of composure), and a big bunch of pages stapled together landed on her chest. Turning it over to inspect it, the cover read, in plain Courier typeface, "Cupcakes", and in messy, rushed scribbles in the corner, "Rainbow Dash". The pegasus breathed a sigh of relief, remembering that she was on a movie set, and this getup was probably makeup, and the folder was the script. Indeed, a poke of one of the "nails" - which bent like rubber to the touch - confirmed this. Normally she wouldn't have the patience to sit down and read a movie script, even if she was starring in it, but curiosity had grabbed her and wasn't letting go - she couldn't fathom what the title "Cupcakes" had to do with makeup that looked like it was from a slasher film.

Fifteen minutes of reading cleared up quite a lot, as she speed-read the blue-highlighted lines. Part of her thought this was awesome, in a sick sort of way, and the other part dripped cold sweat at the thought of being butchered by one of her closest friends. She took a gulp of water from the bottle (which also helped ease her throat after the paperclip) and set aside her confusion about the whole matter, assuming she must have lost a couple of days' memory from that lamp knock.

* * *

><p>The next day, Rainbow Dash had a lazy morning, and felt like she'd earned it. She wasn't needed on set that day, and was taking full advantage of it. That is, until someone came looking for her.<p>

"Rainbow Dash!" She heard in the distance, probably from the street outside her cloud palace. Slumping out of bed with all the grace and enthusiasm of a sloth, she made her way to the window to see Twilight Sparkle on the road, calling to her. "You said you were gonna help me test this morning!"

"Test?" She groaned in hoarse respone.

"Yeah, the HEV suit." Twilight tapped her hooves impatiently. _Huh. _Dash thought._ I must have agreed to another test... oh well! Maybe I'll remember it this time..._

In Twilight's library, the pegasus suited up comfortably and rapidly, much more so than the unicorn expected.

"Now, what I want you to do i-"

"Yeah yeah, Sonic Rainboom and keep going, I got it..." Twilight blinked. Had Rainbow actually listened the last time she'd explained all this to her? That's certainly a new one. "Is it still the Meadow I'm starting from or are we going somewhere new? I wanna try and go even _faster_ this time!" The pegasus bounced around excitedly. _Man that was such a RUSH last time!_

"This time?" Twilight tilted her head quizzically. "This is the first test..."

"It is?" Dash tilted her head the other way, equally puzzled, before chuckling it off and giving her wings a flap. "Heh, I must have taken this thing for a spin in a dream."

Just like the last time - dream or not - she started with some warmup exercises. Taking care to put on her mask before departing, she kicked off into the sky, rising to the stratosphere before kicking off the ozone layer like a wall (even if she was just kicking at air for show) and beginning her accelerating descent. Knowing what to expect this time, she took a more gentle curve to level out, reaching another stunning Sonic Rainboom closer to the ground than the last time around, giving Ponyville full view of its awesome glory as she raced towards it. Again, the light cone began to form around her as she accelerated beyond the impossible, and again, the light barrier was breached with a stunning flare of bright white. A few thoughts occurred to the pegasus as she reached the ultimate speed limit. Firstly, this wasn't quite as _awesome _as the "dream". Secondly, every last little detail about this seemed really, really faithful to that dream... this certainly doesn't happen every day.


	3. Rainbow's Gravity

Thunk. _Where did this wall come from?_

Rainbow Dash shook her head around a little. She was coming around much more quickly this time, and just for kicks, that bump on her head from yesterday was gone! Just like that. Her vision didn't seem blurry, but something else was making it hard to see. It took her a few moments to realise that her surroundings were nearly pitch black, save for a little window with a bar through it on the wall on one side of the room, through which the night sky was visible, and a similar window mounted on a door on the other side, which had a yellow-ish glow coming from it. The pegasus rose to her hooves to fly over and investigate, only for her attempt at flight to be met with a firm faceplant on cold stone. _What in the..._

Looking around at her flank, she saw her wings were strapped to her sides with a hemp belt, the buckle on her back where she couldn't reach it. Not only that, but a glance at her hooves revealed that both her front and hind hooves were in shackles! Trotting over to the door, the chains making little chinking noises as she went, she lifted herself up to look through the window. Royal Guards, torches, lots of other similar doors along the stone corridor... _This can't be right..._ When she peeped through the same window on the other side, she got a nice panoramic view of large swathes of Equestria, with the Everfree Forest and Ponyville off to the left, almost obscured by a cliff. _Oh no, it's..._

"What the hay've you gotten yourself into this time, Rainbow Dash..." she muttered to herself.

She began pacing. _What in Equestria am I doing in the Royal Dungeon at Canterlot?_ The question burned in her mind as she trotted in circles. Until, however, she started coughing and spluttering, and she braced herself against the wall, hacking violently. After a few minutes of this, she cleared the offending article from her throat with one last satisfying cough. She very nearly missed what it was, but a glint in the moonlight piqued her curiosity enough to go back and pick it up. _The paperclip I swallowed yesterday! Hoo, for once crashing into something saved my flank..._ She'd seen enough movies to make the connection. Wedging the clip between her hooves and manipulating it with her teeth, she bent the clip out of shape, and took one end in her teeth, working it into the keyhole of the shackle on her forelegs. _This is harder than it looks!_ She thought, spending a good five to ten minutes working the lock before it sprang open, freeing her front-left hoof. _Success! Who's the pony? I'm the pony!_ Her celebrations, however, were cut short when she remembered the other three shackles.

Another twenty minutes passed before all four hooves were free. She knew better than to start galloping around in celebration - there were guards out there after all. The window to the outside was certainly too big to squeeze through, and the ponies who made the door were smart enough not to put a keyhole on the inside. However, closer inspection revealed the door to be... well, not the most sturdy of things. Sure, it was six inches of solid oak, but it looks like it was made hundreds of years ago, and hasn't seen much use. After all, serious crimes in Equestria are few and far between. _Applejack woulda made short work of that door... guess I'll have to try it out myself._ She peeped through the window to check where the guards were. A patrol had just passed, so she decided now was as good a time as any. She positioned herself near the door, hind legs nearly leaning on it. She lurched forward, then pushed back on her front legs, extending her hind legs at the same time, trying her best to aim for the lock, putting all the body weight she could into it...

_KERRASH._

_Success!_ The door swung open hard enough to break the hinges, shattering into a pile of scrap wood and splinters on the wall. _Old thing musta been barely holding itself together._ With nary another thought, she shot out the door and took off down the corridor, the opposite direction from the now alarmed guards as fast as her hooves could carry her. Entering a spiral staircase, she leapt at it with sufficient speed to run along the outside wall, descending a couple of rotations before exiting. She found herself rapidly approaching a pair of guards, still not alerted to her presence. Unlike most guards around Canterlot, these ones _were_ armed, with long halberds mounted on their backs, the blades sharpened to the point even just looking at them brought to mind a slicing sound. Far from being just burdened with simple sticks, these guards were unicorns, and probably well-trained in using their magic to wield their weapons. On her approach, Rainbow Dash got an idea, trying to take advantage of their ignorance to her presence. She leaped into the air, doing the first half of a barrel roll, aiming neatly in between the two. She flattened her ears to her head, grimacing as she lunged almost straight at one of the blades...

_KHSHING._

Continuing her barrel roll on the other side, the pegasus looked over her shoulder to see the hempen strap fly off her back, and her wings open out in all their (slightly stiff) glory, and just a slight scratch along her back. With a smirk back at the incensed guards, she took off at full speed down the corridor, and right back up the next staircase. With speed on her side, she could easily outmaneuver any other patrols that might come her way, and probably continue her breakout without a hitch, but right now she wanted _answers_. With her rainbow trail behind her, she could be easily followed, and the pegasus guards would probably be here soon. She raced through the maze of corridors and staircases. _Who all ends up in here? This place looks like it goes on for miles! There aren't nearly enough criminals in all of Equestria to fill all these cells... Unless this place is why we don't hear about any crime..._ with a gulp, she snapped herself out of her daydream and banked hard up at a spiral staircase with a hollow centre. About halfway up, she let off on the flying, coasting to a halt to cut off her rainbow trail, and carried on another floor upwards or so at a more relaxed pace, in an attempt to throw the guards. Hiding behind a pillar, it seemed to do the trick, and she heard a storm of guards follow the trail for as long as it lasted, barrelling down the corridor below her. _Now I can start looking for some answers..._


	4. When You Assume

With a bit of luck, the floor Rainbow Dash had landed on looked like an adminstration level. These doors certainly weren't cells - they looked more like offices. _Let's see, Staff Records... Supplies... Warden's Office... aha! Inmate Records._ The whole level was dark, so she reasoned that it was outside work hours. The door was locked, and giving it a firm buck would draw too much attention, so she pulled the paperclip she used earlier from her mane, and set to work picking the lock. Not even a minute had passed before it popped open - this lock wasn't as critical to the running of the dungeon as the locks on the shackles. She nipped in and closed the door, locking it from the inside with the knob that was in place of the internal keyhole. Rather than risk turning on the light, she waited a moment to adjust to the light levels in the room, with just an external window providing illumination.

A few filing cabinets took up most of one wall. It took the pegasus a few moments to pore through the labels, the records organised alphabetically. _F to K... L to P... aha! Q to S. _She popped out the drawer, nosing through the folders. Some of these went back a long time, and these were just current prisoner records! In her daydreaming she nearly missed the folder. _Rainbow Dash... hmm. This should at least be... interesting..._

She popped the folder on the desk, sitting square in the moonlight. The title read "Rainbow Dash" alright, and the photograph looked something like her, but something was amiss about it. Something about her eyes gave the impression that something was seriously wrong with the filly in the picture. She sat down to read the file in her head;

_"Name: Rainbow Dash. Place of Birth, Cloudsdale, Residence at time of incarceration, Ponyville..." Okay, okay, yadda yadda yadda, that's not what I'm here for._ She skipped down to the details of her sentence. _"Sentenced to life imprisonment in the Canterlot dungeon for second degree murder of Ms. Pinkamena Diane Pie?" That can't be right..."On July 15th, 1001, Ms. Dash entered Sugarcube Corner in Ponyville, where Ms. Pie offered her cupcakes. Ms. Dash proceeded to have a mental breakdown, and attacked Ms. Pie with a cake knife. The two were found a few minutes after the incident, with Ms. Dash curled up in the foetal position and gibbering to herself. Ms. Pie was pronounced dead at the scene. Ms. Dash was reported to have suffered mental instability in the weeks preceding the incident." What in the... _She skipped ahead a few pages to the psychiatric report, filled out in different handwriting, probably by the dungeon's psychologist. _"Patient reports of a recurring dream involving being restrained and butchered by the victim of her murder." That sounds awfully close to that movie... "The dream continues to recur even months after the antagonist of the dream is deceased. Patient's grip on reality is tenuous at best. Recommending personal restraint measures, as the patient is likely to self-harm."_

The pegasus staggered back a little, her head spinning. _I don't remember any of this... where did all this come from? Is this even real?_ Her time with the report was cut short when she heard hoofsteps along the corridor. She pulled the report back from the desk and hid behind the filing cabinets. The hoofsteps continued to grow louder, along with some kind of soft scratching sound. Trembling a little, she peeped around the corner of the filing cabinet, catching a glimpse of the pony outside the door. It carried on, scratching going with it. _Whew... just the janitor._ Panic over, she slipped the report back into the filing cabinet and grabbed a coat from the room. As soon as the janitor was out of earshot, she opened the door and started for the exit. The shaft she had ascended earlier was roofed with wood, and probably led to the surface. Checking that the coast was clear, she dropped down to the very bottom, kicked off the floor, and ascended as rapidly as she could, hooves outstretched, bracing for impact...

_KERRACK._

The wooden panel was as rotten as the door, and shattered easily. She soon found herself hovering about fifty feet in the air over Canterlot, with some Royal Guards frantically running around on the ground. It wasn't long before a pegasus Guard began to give chase.

"Stop right there, criminal scum!" the colt yelled, though Rainbow Dash was already bolting for the forest before he had finished his sentence. Clutching the pilfered coat, she headed straight for the first cover she could find, her rainbow trail leading straight to the woods. Platoons of Royal Guards gave chase, thundering into the forest after her. She could almost certainly outfly them with ease, but this shining rainbow coming from her tail would just lead them right to her every time. She spotted a river on her flythrough, and immediately plunged into it. She couldn't keep up anything close to her normal speed as she swam through the icy water, but as long as she kept her head below water until the next kink in the river, her most obvious trail would stop dead at the water. It was an arduous minute of solid, breathless swimming. She had decided to swim against the river's flow, to further confuse her pursuers; on the other hand, this made swimming even harder work, and her wings were just causing drag. Swimming just twenty yards or so to the nearest bend in the river, once around the corner she latched onto a rock at the side of the river and pulled her head up with a deep gasp. The shivering pegasus pulled herself from the water, her stolen coat now dripping wet. She looked up at the night sky, with sunset just gone, and sighed. It was going to be a long walk to Ponyville.


	5. Mathematician's Answer

Fatigue was starting to take its toll on the filly. Rainbow Dash had been walking all night through the woods to Ponyville. The woods between Canterlot and Ponyville weren't as dangerous as the Everfree Forest, but they sure were dark, and she had to stay off beaten trails. She had dried out through hours of walking, though the combination of cold and wet was probably going to come back to haunt her. Exhausted, she hovered up to a branch and rested in it. The clock tower of Ponyville was visible in the distance, which gave her her first indication of the time since she left Canterlot. _2am. Aw, hay... _She was about to shuffle off and continue to the town before something hit her. She stayed and waited as she pondered a few things. _According to the records, I'm a psychotic murderer... but I've never had any dreams like that, and I would never hurt Pinkie Pie... over cupcakes, of all things! That's just silly..._ she chuckled a little at the notion, though it wasn't long before the gravity of the situation returned. She hardened her stare. _If there's anyone who knows what the hay is going on here, it'll be her._ She floated down to the ground and continued her wearisome journey.

The streets were empty in the dead of night, and with the hood and long coat, nobody looking from a window would be able to identify her. She passed Sugarcube Corner on her way through - all boarded up, looking like nobody had been in there for months. She felt a twinge of sadness passing the place, as the thought that she could genuinely be responsible for the death of her friend weighed heavy on her heart. Almost walking into a tree, she shook her head and tried to concentrate. The library was just up ahead.

She flew up to the balcony, since the front door was locked, and the balcony was probably an easier way to get Twilight's attention. Peering in the window, there she was, sleeping soundly in the moonlight, Spike in his basket on the floor at the foot of the bed. She rapped her hoof on the window, and gulped, entirely unsure how this was going to go. _Pap pap pap._ Nothing. _Pap pap pap._

"Twilight!" She whispered, trying to rouse her. The unicorn stirred, frowning in her sleep. Rainbow grimaced and knocked harder. "Twilight! You gotta help me!" Twilight murmured and rolled out of bed. Dash thought she heard her mutter 'Spike, fly me closer, I want to hit them with my sword', behind a yawn. She staggered over to the window, still bleary eyed and half-asleep, and haphazardly opened it.

"Who could this be at my window at midnight o'clock?"

"Twilight, something's really wrong, you got-" No sooner had the pegasus begun speaking, had the unicorn gone wide-eyed and started staggering backward, gibbering. "Twilight, are you okay?"

"R-r-r-ren-r-r-r-rai-r-r-r..."

"What?"

"... MURDEmff!" Rainbow shoved a hoof in her mouth as soon as Twilight began to scream. She kicked the window shut and waited for Spike to settle back down. When she spoke again, her tone was a lot more demanding.

"Listen Twi, I'm not a murderer. Something is really, really wrong, and you're the only one I know who can help." She waited a moment for this to sink in before letting her talk again.

"Wh-... butthe-..."

"I'm as confused as you are right now, and I need you to focus." She backed off a little and sighed, pacing. Twilight just twitched, sorely divided. Should she run off and alert someone that a psychopath was in her house? Or was there something deeper going on here? She hadn't tried to kill her yet, after all. She decided to sit and entertain her curiosity for a little longer. "As far as I can tell, I'm not the same Rainbow Dash who killed Pinkie Pie. I don't remember anything about it, or the dreams that are supposed to have driven, uhm, 'me', crazy. Also, I'm not crazy." Twilight tilted her head and thought for a moment.

"Okay, backtrack for me. What _do _you remember?"

"Well, I just came here from Canterlot, where I broke out of the dungeon, which for some reason I found myself in, and then the last thing I remember before that was testing out your HEV suit..." as soon as these two words reached the purple unicorn, she jumped.

"The HEV suit?"

"...yeah." Cogs whirred in Twilight's head. "Why, is that important?"

"I scrapped the HEV suit idea after the Sugarcube corner incident... but if you remember testing it, despite the fact that it was never even made, then that means you're _not_ Rainbow Dash! I mean, not our Rainbow Dash."

"Our Rainbow Dash? You lost me."

"The HEV suit was designed both to enhance your flight capabilities, and in turn see what would happen when an object of mass reached the speed of light. In my calculations beforehand, I'd noted that there was a small chance of some form of interdimensional travel, though I couldn't tell much more about it. Of course! It all makes sense now!" Twilight got up and trotted downstairs, raving about some deep, impenetrable maths. Rainbow followed her.

"To you maybe."

"Okay, let me try and break it down. The moment you reached the speed of light, your consciousness left your body, and jumped into the Rainbow Dash of this universe, hence why you have no memory of anything." Something clicked in Dash's mind.

"Oh yeah! Like how I didn't remember the movie either."

"Movie?"

"Well, before I took the suit for a spin and wound up here, I'd tried it out once before that and woke up starring in a slasher movie, haha."

"You've... jumped more than once."

"Ho yeah!" Dash's celebration of her own _awesomeness _wasn't shared by Twilight.

"Oh boy, now it's complicated..."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I have absolutely no idea where the displaced consciousnesses go." The pegasus just floated around over Twilight's head, shrugging. "Somewhere, Crazy Dash is on the loose." Rainbow mouthed an 'ohhh...'. The unicorn rummaged around her things, tossing out blueprints and half-baked ideas. She disappeared into her basement for a moment, and returned with a small box with some wires hanging out of it. "This is as far as I'd come with the HEV suit in this universe. I need to finish this as quickly as possible, before some innocent pony gets hurt."

* * *

><p>The unicorn worked through the night to finish the project, with Rainbow Dash grabbing supplies from around town. In the dead of night, nopony would have been awake and fast enough to stop her. By sunrise, the suit was barely ready. It was no spring chicken in the other universes, but even this looked rough by comparison. Suiting up was no hassle for the pegasus, and in no time they were out on the meadow, before most ponies were up, ready to take off. Before she left, Twilight pulled her down by the tail.<p>

"Just, one last thing I want to say before you go..."

"Hm?"

"It... it was nice talking to Rainbow Dash as a friend again." Twilight smiled, a tear starting to form in her eye. Dash couldn't help but drop down and smile back.

"I'm sorry for what you had to suffer from your Dash..."

"Don't worry about it. Just get out there and stop her from doing something even worse!" She wiped the tear away and regained her resolve. Dash nodded dutifully and took off into the sky. Hungry and tired, the jump required significantly more effort, but sure enough, five minutes into the flight, an explosion of light erupted over the Everfree Forest. That pesky tear in Twilight's eye wouldn't go away.


	6. Worm in the Apple

Stirring awake, the sky-blue mare yawned and blearily sat up in the bed. _Well this is a welcome change. Nice warm bed, sun shining in... boy it's early... wait... is this Applejack's room?_ _What the hay am I doing in he-_ "eAHH!" When she turned to her left, what she saw shocked her enough to jump right out of bed and land with a thunk on the floor. She scrambled to her hooves and looked back to see if she really saw what she thought she just saw. Again, the shock hit her like an anvil.

"Come back to bed Sugarcube, Ah ain't that rough..." the earth pony mumbled in her sleep. _So... in this universe, me and Applejack are an item? That's..._ she paused here, running through the implications and nuances in her head. _... interesting. Certainly better than being a fugitive._

"Uhh... sure thing, uhm... Appletart!" She stuffed a pillow in front of Applejack that she promptly grasped and cuddled, so Dash could take a few minutes to get to grips with this world.

"Ah told you that's mah cousin's name, silly filly!" Luckily, it seemed Applejack had picked up some of Dash's laziness here, and just returned to sleeping sweetly. Knowing her, it probably wouldn't be too long before some kind of alarm went off for farm work, with the sun rising steadily. Rainbow went to fly to stay off her hooves, to avoid waking her. However, this was met with absolutely no success. A couple of failed attempts to get off the ground caused a confounded Rainbow Dash to look over her shoulder, only to gasp in horror at her wings. Or, rather, her lack of them.

Where she expected her wings to be, there were, instead, a pair of nubs, the ends covered in scar tissue. When she attempted to flap her wings, all that happened was that the nubs wiggled around a little. She trotted over to a mirror and surveyed herself for any other major abnormalities that she inherited with this form. Nothing else appeared to be wrong, save for a few scars on her hind legs and a curious circular scar around her cutie mark.

"What in tarnation is all that racket about?" Dash wheeled around to see Applejack stirring and starting to rise from bed.

"Okay, AJ, this is going to sound crazy..."

* * *

><p>Twilight paced the library. The two other fillies sat in the corner, Rainbow Dash on her haunches thinking sternly, Applejack on the staircase, idly playing with the rainbow mane in front of her.<p>

"So if what you're telling me is true, then somewhere out there is our Dash?"

"I think so... the last Twilight I talked to said something about displaced consciousnesses or something."

"... that's... just what I was thinking. Anyway, we won't know how to get you home or our Dash back until we attempt another jump."

"But without my wings, that's not happening any time soon."

"Right. I'm not sure if propulsion by artificial means can do the same trick, but it's worth a shot."

"Speaking of my wings, what... what happened to them? Like I said, I'm clueless." Applejack and Twilight sighed. It took a moment for it to register with Rainbow that this was still something stressful to them. To her it seemed like something temporary, what with all this reality hopping, but to the other two it was clearly harsh, everyday reality. The earth pony laid a hoof on the pegasus' back.

"Sugarcube... yer lucky you don't know."

"But I wanna know!" Dash protested. Applejack sighed.

"Ah guess it's a tale worth tellin'." She took a breath before continuing. "'Bout two months ago when you didn't turn up when ya said you would for some pie on the farm, ah came lookin' for you. When ah found you..." The earth pony shuddered. "... Pinkie Pie had ya all trussed up and was doing all sortsa horrifyin' things to you. Ya were lucky to be alive... if ah'd arrived even a minute later, they mightn't have been able to save you."

"So... this Pinkie is..."

"Mhm. Killed her when she came at me with a scalpel. 'N that fountain we passed on the way here? 'S a memorial for all the victims. It was even your idea."

"Wow..." Dash just sat there, gobsmacked. Twilight had been spending this time going through some of her old works, rummaging around in the basement. When she resurfaced, Applejack was sitting over Dash with her forehooves around the shocked pony.

"I've got the... oh, are you having a moment?"

"Wh- I-" Dash hadn't even noticed.

"Naw, carry on," Applejack finished her sentence for her. Twilight lowered her brow a little.

"Anyway, by the time of the incident I had almost finished the HEV suit, so that component of the jump won't be too hard to deal with. However, we need to get you flying, and I think I have an idea." Rainbow perked up her ears and tilted her head at the mention.


	7. Returning the Favour

"Ah hope ah'm not makin' yer too uncomfortable or anythin'." Applejack giggled, sitting behind the ex-pegasus at the lake, her front hooves around her. The sun was hanging low in the sky, and after a day of helping her round the farm, Rainbow Dash was relaxing with her.

"Heh, nah, honestly, it's fine," Dash replied, blushing just a touch. It was, like she had thought earlier, interesting. It was almost like part of this world was like a self-contained fantasy, playing on idle thoughts that occupied her mind from time to time. _Hm._ She thought. _If this place's Rainbow Dash is going to come back going whole hog into this, and they know I'm not her anyway, then I guess I can't really mess anything up... _"It's... actually kinda nice." Applejack smiled, leaning her head down over Dash's shoulder. However, their moment was interrupted by hoofsteps. Twilight approached the lake with a couple of saddlebags.

"Don't get too comfortable Rainbow Dash, you're not here for too long." Both of the pair looked a bit disappointed. "I've made a couple of modifications to my original HEV suit design..." Using her magic, she opened one of the saddlebags and lifted the suit out, unfurling it in front of them. Mounted on the back was something resembling a small jet engine.

"Neat."

"Also, this rocket isn't the only thing I've brought out to help you." At this cue, another pony stepped out from behind Twilight. Rainbow's jaw hit the floor as the flame-maned mare stepped into view.

"S-s-s-... Spitfire?" Despite not wearing her Wonderbolt uniform, Rainbow recognised her immediately.

"Twilight told me about your, uh, circumstances. Seemed a little weird, but weirder stuff has happened. Besides, a favour from one Wonderbolt to another isn't much to ask, is it?" This last thing set Dash's head spinning even more. She spent a moment or two gibbering before a light tap on the head from Applejack brought her back.

"I'm a W-Wonderbolt in this Equestria?" Dash held her front hooves to her mouth, bouncing a little. Spitfire nodded.

"It was after the accident. We made you an honorary Wonderbolt." She couldn't help but chuckle at Dash's excited gibbering. She could barely make out a thing, though it seemed to be something like 'ohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh'. "It was the least we could do."

"When you're _quite_ finished, Rainbow..." Twilight interrupted, opening the other saddlebag.

"I kinda don't want to leave now..."

"Rainbow!"

"This is _so awesome!_"

"RAINBOW DASH!" The three other ponies yelled simultaneously, bringing her back down to earth.

"Sorry..."

"Remember," Twilight continued. "This isn't your life. As tempted as you might be to stay, the pony who suffered and earned all of this is out there somewhere. You should be grateful you didn't have to go through any of that." Her steely tone completely burst the bubble on Rainbow Dash's fantasies. She sighed.

"Yeah... I guess you're right." _Damn. Just as I was warming up to this place..._ she grimaced and tried to move past it. "So what's your plan?"

"Well..." she pulled out a second HEV suit from her saddlebags.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure this is going to work?" Spitfire called from her perch on top of the barn, Rainbow Dash's forehooves clipped to her hind hooves by little rings on the sleeves of the suits. Twilight was bracing herself, concentrating on the task ahead.<p>

"Not a clue..." she smirked. "Start the countdown, Applejack." The earth pony took a deep breath and backed up a little.

"Uhh... three!"

"Hey, Dash!" Spitfire whispered back.

"Yeah?" Rainbow responded, still a hint of fannish squeal to her tone whenever she talked to her. With a mischevious grin, the yellow pegasus continued;

"... I hope Twilight made those suits fireproof... for your sake."

"Two!"

"Oh, and she said to put this in your mouth."

"WhaMF." Before she could inquire further, Spitfire had tossed a folded-up pen knife in Dash's mouth, and used her front hoof to jam her mask on.

"One!" Spitfire hunkered down, prompting Rainbow to follow suit at the last moment, before the pair leapt into the air at the utterance of the word "GO!" from the ground. What they didn't hear was how Applejack continued, murmured rather than exclaimed; "Stay safe sugarcube..."

With her tail held carefully over Rainbow Dash's head (as opposed to flapping in her face, where the flame trail would scorch her), Spitfire ascended rapidly, experienced enough to take the extra weight in her stride. The HEV suit certainly helped her acceleration, along with the Rainbow's rocket pack. It wasn't firing full blast just yet, but the fact that it worked at all was an achievement in itself - this was no ordinary jetpack. On the ground, Twilight was concentrating to channel her magic to the rocket from long distance, giving it thrust indefinitely as long as she held her focus. With the aid of the suits and and jetpack, the two ponies ascended the atmosphere until the sky began to thin and darken, before banking around to return to the surface. Spitfire took the brief moment where the wind wasn't deafening to yell a statement to her passenger;

"Y'know your Sonic Rainboom? Wait 'til you see what I have..." Without even waiting for a response, she began her descent, the cyan pony praying those dinky little hooflinks wouldn't snap at the wrong moment. She watched as all the familiar traits of her signature trick formed around her - the Mach cone closing around her, slight elongation... and then, as rapidly as her HEV-enhanced flight had done it, it hit. They broke the sound barrier with a thunderous _KABOOM_, and looking over her shoulder, a ring of fire erupted from where it had happened, and a trail of flames and smoke all the way through it. _A Sonic Fireboom..._ she thought. Her adoration was interrupted by a sudden dragging feeling; the intense forces out of leftfield causing a brief moment of dizziness. Spitfire was banking around again to go level with the ground. She could barely hear her screaming over the wind; "Disengaging in three!" _Uh oh._ "Two!" _This is either going to really well..._ "One!" _... or really badly._ "DROP!" At that, the hooflinks uncoupled, launching Rainbow Dash across the sky like a catapult. She watched Spitfire continue to arc upwards away from her, while Sweet Apple Acres rapidly faded into the distance behind her. It's one thing to be hurtling along at speeds where even a brush with something could be catastrophic, and quite another to be doing so _with no control over it_. Expecting herself to begin arcing towards the ground, she winced... only to be relieved as the jetpack rattled into gear. It wasn't quite the same as her familiar wings - the rocket pack handled like a shopping trolley - but it was certainly doing the job speedwise. _Whoever gets this body next, _she thought, as the light cone began to form around her, _is in for a fun ride..._ and everything faded to white.


	8. A Close Shave

Rainbow Dash suddenly jerked forward violently. She nearly dropped the cupcake she was holding, and in surprise, swallowed something already occupying her mouth. It was small, rounded and metallic, and not pleasant at all.

"What's wrong silly filly? You haven't even _started _your cupcake yet and you're _already _choking!" Pinkie Pie was standing in front of her with a tray of cupcakes, her usual bouncy self. Once the pegasus was done coughing and spluttering, she cast a glance over her shoulder. Her wings were there, all in one piece, and all intact.

"I'm fine, I think..." Reassuring herself that she was safe here, she took a bite out of the cupcake that had been prepared for her. Then... she noticed something a little out of place. Something in Pinkie's grin... something slightly off about the taste of this cupcake. But by the time she'd put together all the pieces, it was too late. She'd swallowed the first bite. "... wait a minneuughhh..." within moments, Rainbow Dash was unconscious on the floor.

* * *

><p>She woke to what was positively the most awful smell she'd ever encountered in her life. The rancid fumes of raw and rotting meat, of fresh blood... of death. Nausea overtook her, bringing her round more rapidly than she otherwise would have. It didn't take much to notice her restraints - she was strapped to a board, spread-eagle, exposing her vulnerable belly and pressing her wings uselessly against the board. Pinkie Pie was nowhere in sight, and a tray was visible just out of the light with a cloth over it. This all seemed familiar in some way... <em>Of course! The movie, the dreams, the cupcake killer... this Rainbow Dash was about to be-<em>

"Wakey wakey Dashie!" Pinkie Pie cut off her train of thought, bursting open the basement door and rushing up to her in that just-too-close way."You're gonna help me with some baking!" The pegasus was positively terrified. This was definitely a step up from all of her previous encounters with the incident, which were always separated in some way. But this was actually happening to her in the here and now, and it made her stomach turn. "How do you like my apron?" Pinkie Pie strutted into the light, revealing her dress - a patchwork of all sorts of colours, and patterns and... _are those wings? PEGASUS wings? And those... are... cutie marks... that tears it, I'm gonna be si- aha!_ Upon thinking about the contents of her stomach, she remembered the pen knife she had in her mouth before she jumped. _If it's anything like the paperclip, it should have come with me... _she made a point to stare at the "apron", clenching and contorting her torso muscles and twisting her tongue every which way she could to relieve herself of her lunch. When she felt it coming, she gritted her teeth. _As bad as this is gonna be,_ she reasoned, _it might be the only way I'm getting out of here alive._ "Daww, Dashie, you don't look so good! Let me get you an adrenaline shot..." Pinkie turned her back, throwing the cloth off the table to reveal her wide array of surgical tools.

It was as bad as she thought it would be. It took all of her concentration to avoid the instinct to just open her jaws, and again to not just release the volume of vomit now in her mouth and throat. She couldn't breathe, and if she took too long about it it would stay that way. With a few tense moments of squirreling her tongue around her mouth, trying her best to ignore the taste, she found the rigid, metal object, and caught it under her tongue. Her success was met with a firm jab - she opened her eyes to find Pinkie had jammed the syringe into her chest, and was injecting adrenaline into her heart. In panic, she opened her mouth, ejecting most of her vomit right into Pinkie's face.

"Dashie! That's no way to treat your friends!" the pink earth pony pulled the saddest face she could, before a chunk dripped into her eye, making her squeal and retreat. "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back!" She announced cheerily as she disappeared upstairs to wash her eye. Rainbow Dash smirked, carefully lifting the pen knife to her teeth, resisting the temptation to cough up more chunks - this knife was absolutely critical; if she dropped it, it was game over. It took all of her oral dexterity to pry open the knife with just her teeth and tongue and _not_ cut her mouth open, and even then she gave her lip a little nick. _Whew... hard part over. Now if I can just reach..._

She craned her neck upwards. She could only barely reach the strap on her front right hoof, and even then, the slicing was barely working. The dull pen knife was having a hard time cutting through the hempen strap, made all the more difficult by her tenuous dental grip on it. With each little nudge, the blade tore another fibre. She could hear hoofsteps in the background, making her begin to drip sweat. With just a tiny bit left, she decided it was now or never. She spat the knife at the strap, severing the last little bit and freeing her hoof. The knife slid down the inclined board and dealt a light slash to her wing, but nothing serious. In fact it was fortunate where it landed - she could scoop of the escaping blade in her wing, and fumble it back up to her mouth with her free hoof, leaving a few cosmetic cuts along her belly. She wasted no time hacking away at her other forehoof; this strap was cut more efficiently than the last one, due to her extended reach. With the knife still in her mouth, she quickly moved on to her hind legs, bending over and cutting them free in no time. And just in time too - the basement door creaked open again, and she dashed into the shadows of the room, ducking around under the stairs.

"Heeere's PINKIE!" the earth pony squealed, as she lunged at the table. As planned, she stopped not a foot short of the board, just where her nose could sit uncomfortably close to her captive's. If... she was there. She frowned, looking around the dark basement. "Now Dashie, you're not being a very good cupcake at all! Cupcakes don't escape..." She took a scalpel from the knife tray and began to prowl around the room, humming a familiar tune to herself, slightly muffled from the blade in her mouth, and accented strangely as she jumped around corners. "When I was a little filly and the sun was going... DOWN." She jumped around behind the tray. Nothing. "The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me... FROWN." She leapt over the top of the board she restrained her victims to. Nada. "I'd hide under my pillow..." Dash picked up something from the ground behind her. It was a skull. _Ewww..._ she gulped and leant slightly out of cover. "... from what I thought I SAW." Pinkie jumped at the darkest corner in the room. Still nothing. "But Granny Pie sai-" her tune was interrupted by a clatter from the stairs. "Ooh, are we playing a game, Dashie? I love hide and seek!" Dash watched from her hiding spot as the crazy pony looked around. "Now if that came from under the stairs... that means you're trying to throw me off by hiding... HERE!" She jumped at a barrel next to her. She was sorely disappointed.

"Hey Pinkie." A hoarse voice called from behind her. She looked over her shoulder, blade still in her mouth. She did not see what was coming next at all - the tail end, hind hooves raised, of a visibly angry Rainbow Dash. "_Taste the rainbow._" she grunted, barely above a whisper, and bucked her hooves back, full force, at Pinkie's face. Without even the split second needed for her jaw to drop, both hooves connected with her nose, snapping the bone off and driving it into her brain. Her top teeth were the next to separate, and the muzzle of her skull shattered. Her jaw bone snapped completely, and as she flew backwards, her jaw hung down at a highly unnatural angle. She didn't get up. Dash sighed in relief - her psychological gamble had worked. "Talk about a close shave." she chuckled. She couldn't but help herself to a pun as she wiped the blood off her hind hooves and left the basement.


	9. Repercussions

Twilight Sparkle's front door slammed open. Rainbow Dash stood in the doorway, still cut and dirty from earlier. A few hours had passed while she was out from the sedative in the cupcake, and it had gotten dark. She didn't have time for niceties, this was a pony on a _mission_.

"Twilight? We need to talk about the HEV suit." The unicorn had had her nose buried in a book previously, and had jumped at the noise.

"Rainbow Dash? How do you know about that already? I hadn't told..." The pegasus took a deep breath, recounting the entire series of events to lead her here.

"I'm actually Rainbow Dash from another universe where we tested the suit two days ago and then I was starring in a horror movie and tested the suit there and then I was in a dungeon because the me from that universe went crazy and killed Pinkie Pie but I broke out and found you again and then I was in this place where Pinkie Pie had cut my wings off and would have killed me if Applejack hadn't saved me and I flew with Spitfire and it was SO AWESOME and then I came here!" she collapsed and panted. Twilight quirked a brow.

"Oookay?" Dash took another breath to recover.

"Long story short, when I break the light barrier I jump between universes. Well, my mind does, and any metal in my body." Twilight cocked her head slightly, mental cogs whirring.

"How many times have you done this already?"

"Four."

"And it's a different universe each time?"

"Oh, Celestia..."

"Why, what's the problem?" Twilight got up and started pacing.

"I'd figured out two models of how consciousnesses might redistribute after a jump - shift, or swap." The pegasus just looked confused. "Okay, let me try and explain. There are a finite amount of alternate universes that all run a different course. Untold amounts of them, but finite nontheless. They're also arranged in series by similarity - you don't jump randomly between them, since you need to have an analog in the universe you're jumping to. I haven't been able to work out most of the fine details, but that seems to be the general case. When you jump between universes, there has to be at least one other jump to compensate. Either every Rainbow Dash jumps at the same time into the next universe, or just one jumps back to the one you came from"

"I'm still lost." Twilight thudded her hoof to her forehead.

"When did you perform the first jump?"

"Uhmm... it was... two... five... ten... fourteen... about two days ago."

"Aha!" Twilight disappeared into her basement. _Maybe this Twilight is crazy too. What if everyone in this Ponyville is crazy? What if- no, stay focused Dash._ She returned a moment later with the completed HEV suit over her back. "Because our Rainbow Dash hasn't been acting strangely at all in the last two days, it's safe to say that the swap model holds. The Dash from this universe took your place in the one you just came from, and the one from that one took your place in the one before that, and so on." The pegasus was still not enlightened. Twilight furrowed her brow. "When you jump, you switch places with the Dash from where you're jumping to."

"Ohhhh... oka- oh no."

"What?"

"This is bad. This is very bad."

"What are you talking about Rainbow?"

"One me I took the place of had gone crazy and killed Pinkie Pie, and now she's loose where she might hurt someone... and another me was almost killed by Pinkie Pie, and she's stuck in the universe where Crazy Dash is from!"

"That's... yeah, that's pretty bad." The unicorn thought for a moment, making a few adjustments to the suit's panel. "Hmm... and the other Twilights had made a HEV suit?"

"Yeah. Two of them had trashed it early because their Dashes had gone crazy or lost their wings."

"Hmm... then they probably hadn't discovered the polarity of the mechanism, which is why you kept travelling away from your universe."

"... buh?"

"Never mind. Basically I can send you in direction of home, but to keep going you need to pass a message along to every other Twilight Sparkle you meet."

"Ugghh, it's going to be long and complicated, isn't it?"

"Not at all. Just tell them, 'swap is true, reverse polarity'. If they got the suit working at all they should know what it means."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. Now let's get you out of here..."

"Eh..." Dash stopped her. She wasn't quite sure how to break this. "... there's still something I need to tell you before I go."

"Oh?" Twilight raised a brow.

"... when I arrived here, Pinkie Pie was about to cut me up and bake me into cupcakes." The unicorn just burst out laughing. Dash remained deadpan. "I'm not..." she unfurled her wings, revealing the light wound on her wing from the pen knife earlier. "...kidding."

"That's still a pretty tall tale..." Twilight wiped her eye from the laughter. "You sure you didn't just hit your head on something?" Dash frowned.

"Let me show you something." She started out the door, headed for Sugarcube corner.

* * *

><p>"This is... this... this..." Back at the library, Twilight still couldn't believe what had transpired in that basement. "I... I ate some of those cupcakes! Why would Pinkie<em> do <em>such a thing?"

"Something drove this Pinkie crazy, and I don't know what, but in any case, the Dash from here needs to know my side of the story in as much detail as possible." Twilight reluctantly nodded, and took a quill and parchment and began to transcribe Rainbow's dictation while she suited up.

"You're sure you're not exaggerating any of this? At first glance it _does_ look like Trixie-grade bragging..."

"Well, when I came that close to... that, I'm in no mood to kid around, and there's... there's no point lying to myself, is one way you could put it." Twilight chuckled weakly as she finished up the note. Dash sighed as she pulled the goggles on. "I know this is going to be hard for the other Dash, arriving back here to find one of her best friends dead and the blood on her hooves..."

"... She'll understand. It's as big a shock to all of us what Pinkie did, but, well... don't think of it as taking a pony's life. You couldn't have arrived at a better time, really. You've probably saved dozens." The pegasus nodded and started out the door.

"Alright... let's do this."


	10. Backtracking

The sun had just disappeared over the horizon. It had taken the three a few hours to find where Rainbow Dash had landed, and when they did, she was badly bruised and unconscious, suspended in a tree in the Everfree Forest. Applejack was furious - from what they could see, all that happened was that they catapulted her off into the distance and left her to crash land, as soon as the thrust from the rocket left the wingless pegasus to coast to the ground. The earth pony fumed as she hauled her back on a stretcher, Twilight flicking through notes and Spitfire floating along behind them. When Dash showed the first signs of recovering consciousness, all three stopped and turned to look. She burbled incoherently, before slowly propping herself up on front hooves and looking around.

"Wh... where am I? How did I get... is this Sweet Apple Acres? I thought I was just at SugarcuEH!" She was cut off mid-sentence, jerking up before collapsing back down again.

"Dash! Don't you go dyin' on me aga-" before Applejack could continue further, the pegasus sat up sharply, looking around. A tense moment passed, before she exclaimed joyfully;

"It worked!"

"What worked?" Twilight chimed in.

"The polarity thingy! Twilight was right!" The unicorn just looked even more confused. Applejack and Spitfire exchanged bewildered glances. "Other Twilight. Where I just came from." Silence. "The jump... thing?"

"Are you the same Rainbow Dash?"

"I think so, I first got _here_ here earlier to..." she looked around at the dusk skies. "...day? How long was I out?"

"The flight was three hours ago. We only just found where you landed a few minutes ago, and we were worried the jump hadn't worked..."

"But it did! And not only that, but when I got there Pinkie was about to kill me and turn me into cupcakes, but I got out and now she's not gonna bake anymore, haha!"

"Ya mean..." Applejack gulped. "... there are more Cupcake Killers?" Twilight interjected before Dash could continue.

"Probably, all in their own universes, but that's the way the multiverse goes. Some places are less fortunate than others."

"Oh, that reminds me! The other Twilight told me to tell you, what was it... swap is true, and... reverse the polarity? I think that's it..." The unicorn's ears perked up, and she scribbled some more notes frantically. "Oh, and the good news is, we know where all the other Rainbow Dashes are!" This time, Applejack's face lit up. "We just gotta make another jump, and you should have the right one here."

"Dash..." Twilight began.

"... we're all exhausted." Spitfire finished.

"It took a lot of effort to get you up to that speed, I don't know if we'll be able to do it again so soon." Applejack stopped and dug her heels in the ground. Puffing a little, bull-like, she turned to look over her shoulder.

"Dammit, mah filly could be out there somewhere going through some hell again, and we know how to get her back, and y'all are just going to sit back and complain about who tired y'all are? Ah don't care if ah have to buck this pony into next week by mahself, she's going to fly again and that's final!" Twilight sighed and thought for a moment.

"It's not that we don't want to, it's that we might not be able to. I'm spent as far as heavy magic is concerned, and Spitfire has had to fly the fastest she's ever gone, and all that fatigue adding up will make it even harder to jump again. Unless..."

* * *

><p>"This is... insane." Soarin' gulped, looking at the night sky.<p>

"Think of it as payment for the time she saved your pie." Spitfire responded with a smirk, looking back over her shoulder at Dash. This time they were in a three pony train - they would attempt a similar maneuver to before, except with Soarin' launching both Spitfire and Dash at speed, and they would attempt a double jump, combining their acceleration. "Just remember to come catch us on the way down." Soarin' raised both eyebrows and shrugs, preparing for flight.

"You're sure about this, Spitfire? It seems like an awful lot to do for just little ol' me..." Dash couldn't help but blush at the lengths her idol was going to to help her.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Think of it as practice for Wonderbolts tryouts when you get home." The golden pegasus smiled back, almost casually. "Besides, our Dash is totally gonna owe me a drink when we get her back." Both of them chuckled, Applejack starting the countdown.

"Three!"

"See you on the other side." She added, turning to prepare. Dash just nodded and hunkered down.

"Two! One! GO!" The trio leapt from the barn roof and took off. As they sailed off into the sky, Applejack took another moment to read the note Dash had left for her counterpart here again;

_Dear Rainbow Dash,_

_Hey! As Twi and AJ have probably already told you, I'm you. If they haven't already told you how that makes any sense, go smack 'em and get 'em to tell you. Anyway, first I wanted to apologise for this whole thing. I had no idea it would happen, and if I knew I was going to hijack your body and throw it at high speed into a forest while leaving you someplace where everyone thinks you're a crazy murderer, I never would have done this in the first place. So, yeah, sorry about that. Second, I just wanted to admire the courage you've shown in your life, and where it's gotten you. I know you've been through hell, but you have a wonderful fillyfriend and great friends that are always there for you. Also, you're a Wonderbolt. That's pretty awesome. Just putting that out there. If I could give you my wings so you could chase your dreams again, I totally would._

_Your Awesome Alternate Universe You,_

_Rainbow Dash._

Just as she reached the end of the letter, she looked up. An explosion of ball lightning burst across the night sky, lighting up the whole farm, electrical arcs trailing from Soarin' and his payload. With masterful precision, the maneuver was executed perfectly again, with the yellow electrical trail arcing upwards and slowing its pace, while a flaming trail ignited at the separation point, and shot off to the sky over Ponyville, the light cone appearing, tightening and disappearing in the same magnificent flash.


	11. Living the Dream

Rainbow Dash shuddered awake. It was still the dead of night. _Good, no time lost then_. It took her a moment to realise a few things. Firstly, where she was - clung to a branch atop a tree somewhere in the Everfree Forest with most of the HEV suit still on, and secondly, that her face hurt. Like, _really_ hurt. She winced and fluttered down to the ground. A puddle lay on the ground nearby, which would do for an impromptu mirror. Peering at her reflection, she gasped a little at what she saw - a big, pulsing bruise on one cheek, and a darkened trail along both - the previous Dash here had been crying intensely. _Whoa, what happened here? Well... at least there doesn't seem to be any real damage..._ Closer inspection revealed a slight hoof indentation in the bruise. _Ohhh, she didn't... did she?_ She sighed. _She totally did. She tried to find Applejack, who thinks she's Crazy Dash._ She splashed some of the water in her face to freshen up a little. _At least she's home now. Now, gotta find Twilight, and hope Spitfire isn't held up... _

It wasn't nearly as far to trot to Twilight's library from her position on the fringes of the forest as it was the last time she was here. Without a hood to hide herself, she had to stay subtle around the town, darting between cover, stuffing herself in hay bales and behind baskets to remain hidden. It was late enough at night that few ponies were wandering around the streets. She poked her nose around a corner, making sure the coast was clear before dashing to the front of Twilight's house, leaving a conspicuous rainbow trail that lingered for a moment. _There's the signal... _Hiding behind one of the buttress roots of the tree for a moment, once doubly sure that the coast was clear, she fluttered up to the balcony, knocking on the window. The Twilight inside yawned and turned over in her bed, blearily stretching and rising to her feet.

"Another late night caller? This had better beAH!" She squealed in shock as she recognised the figure in the window immediately. Dash just snorted and cocked an eyebrow. The unicorn shakily opened the door, warming up her horn just in case.

"Relax Twi, I'm the same Dash that stopped by last night." Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, closing the door behind the pegasus as she floated in.

"So did the jump work?"

"Yup. Made another one, and then came back two. Oh! And one of the other Twilights told me to tell you that swap is true and to reverse the polarity? I think I got that right..." Twilight froze, wide-eyed for a moment, before galloping down the stairs and pulling out some blueprints, tinkering with them.

"Of course! That part was always confusing me... okay, so all the Equestrias you've been to since you were here last are all back the way they were?"

"Well... not exactly..."

"Dash, what did you do..." There were three rapid knocks on the front door.

"It's not so much what I did, as..." Twilight opened the door for a hooded figure to step inside, and throw back her hood. "... she did. You got the signal?"

"Spitfire?" Twilight was taken severely aback as the Wonderbolt casually strode into her house, kicking the door shut behind her.

"Loud and clear, Rainbow."

"What in the wide world of Equestria are you doing here?"

"In the last universe, everyone was too tired from the last jump to mount another one without further help, so, the way we figured it out was..."

"... that I go with Dash. Just this step of the way." Twilight thudded her forehead on the table.

"Do you have _any_ idea how reckless that was? Our Spitfire is going to wake up next to a perfectly innocent Rainbow Dash and have a heart attack! People here are going to wonder why the captain of the Wonderbolts is hanging around with a recently escaped fugitive! And if anyone sees either of you at my house, the-"

"Don't sweat it Twi, the other you has it all worked out. Their Dash lost her wings, so their Soarin' will grab her as she falls, while your Spitfire will have to crashland..."

"I wasn't too happy about that part, I've got to get that body back," Spitfire interrupted.

"... like I've done six times already," Rainbow glared at the yellow pegasus. "And doesn't have to meet a Rainbow Dash at all."

"Hm. I guess I do think of everything," Twilight chuckled.

"You'll also need to make another HEV suit, for me." Spitfire chimed in. Twilight grumbled.

"... nearly everything."

* * *

><p>It was around two in the morning by the time Twilight finished her work. Using spare components from the last one, she was able to throw together another - definitely quite rough - suit for Spitfire. The three had remained hidden in the basement, lest anyone see inside and suspect something. During the two hours, Rainbow Dash had mostly eaten and slept - the last owner of this body hadn't done much of either in the last 24 hours, so this was going to be a hard flight. Spitfire snoozed lightly, apparently a little tipsy. With a tired groan, the unicorn roused the other two. They silently left the house, headed for the edge of the Everfree Forest for their takeoff site.<p>

"Okay, here's the gameplan, guys." Dash jigged excitedly. _I'm actually going to fly with Spitfire! THE Spitfire! ... _"Rainbow, listen!" Twilight barked, in the most muted tone she could manage. "This is important. Both of you need to slowly climb to the cloud layer. Any trails from either of you and both of you will be given away. Once you're up, you'll be able to accelerate up to the edge of space. It's a cloudy night, so if you're quick on your descent, nobody should be able to see either of your sonic booms. On your way down, aim for the canyon just behind the mountain in the distance there." She pointed a hoof at the dragon's mountain; opposite the mountain Canterlot was built into the side of. "Spitfire, when you get your light cone you need to start aiming upwards. I've left instructions in the chest pack of your suit that will tell our Spitfire what to do once she gets back. Rainbow, when you get yours you need to stay level - if you keep level and hit lightspeed in this canyon, I've predicted your landing point, and I'm going to arranage an anonymous tipoff to the Royal Guard for that location, where they can re-arrest Crazy Dash. All clear?"

"Got it." the two pegasi said in unison. At this, they began their gentle ascent to the cloud layer. When they were nearly there, Spitfire called over to her, not very loudly, but loud enough to be heard.

"I can tell you're excited Dash, but keep the funny business on the down low, we've got important stuff to be doing." looking over, she could see the twinge of disappointment on the cyan pegasus' face. "... doesn't mean we can't race though!" She chimed in as their heads disappeared into the clouds.

"Oh, it is on!" As soon as they could see clear skies, the pair shot upwards at full tilt, their two trails intertwining and spiralling around each other as they ascended. Rainbow's fatigue disappeared in the adrenaline, and her innate talent was easily a match for Spitfire's experience. Spitfire pulled ahead, front hooves behind her head, flying backwards; this was only to be met by Dash leapfrogging her and leaving a rainbow trail directly over her; the trail itself, where it overlapped with Spitfire's, briefly left a flaming rainbow in its wake. Their duel was ended, however, when the thrust of their wings began to subside as the air pressure dropped; any remnant blue in the night sky had dulled to black. "I totally won!" Rainbow exclaimed. Spitfire just chuckled.

"Actually I think physics won."

"You keep telling yourself that!" Dash floated by on her back, looking as cool and relaxed as ever.

"Hey, Dash..." The blue pegasus' eye opened, looking back over. "... I just wanted to say, I never got a chance to fly with my Dash, so... this has been a treat for me."

"Daww... really?" her heart pounded. She felt like she could do the Running of the Leaves four times over right now. Spitfire nodded, gliding closer to her flying mate.

"Mhm. Oh, and... here's something I don't think either of us could get away with at home..." Unbeknowst to Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolt was grinning under her mask. Gliding right up to her, she pulled both their masks off and pressed her muzzle into hers, planting a great big smooch on her lips. Dash blushed deeply, both her wings popping right out, causing her to loose a little balance, but she wasn't falling anywhere soon as Spitfire held her up. She wasn't expecting this at all, but _certainly_ wasn't complaining, and it wasn't long before she suspended her shock and reciprocated.

After a few delicate moments, Spitfire broke it off, replacing her mask, the faintest blush under her eyes. Dash smiled for a moment, only then to remember that she needed the mask to _breathe_ up here, and hastily replaced it. Spitfire giggled.

"I... I... I..."

"Now don't go getting all creepy to your Spitfire. Just... be patient, okay?" Dash nodded enthusiastically, her blush still painted across her face. "Now let's get moving, we've got a job to do!" The two pegasi resumed formation, and angled their bodies down for descent. As they accelerated, Spitfire pulled Rainbow in close to her, a single Mach cone forming around them, shouting to her as best she could; "Stay with me until the boom, otherwise we'll knock each other off course with the shockwaves!"

"Gotcha!" Training their eyes on the ground, nearing very quickly indeed, the cone flattened out around them, and something utterly unique happened; their sonic boom effects combined, and what could be described as both rainbow-coloured flames _or _a rainbow on fire, exploded across the sky, reaching at least double the size of the normal blast. The two separated once clear of the boom, flying parallel trajectories, banking down behind the mountain and into the canyon. Spitfire extended a hoof out to her flying partner. Dash, noticing this out of the corner of her eye, promptly flew in and responded with same gesture, mirrored, bumping the two hooves together. Both ponies brought their hooves back in front of them to reduce drag. At this, the pair parted their courses, Spitfire aiming just a degree or two higher, and Rainbow levelling out against the ground. _Crazy Dash,_ she grinned. _Prepare for a world of hurt._


	12. Gotcha

Rainbow Dash jerked forward. _Hoo, I'm sure not getting used to these jumps anytime soon..._ Her attention was immediately drawn to a faint whimpering sound. A brief scan of her field of vision determined it was coming from just below her. She looked down, and... _oh no._ She only now noticed the object in her mouth. Some kind of handle, firmly held between her teeth, leading to a long, sharp blade. She was standing over a quivering pile of poofy pink, squeaking in terror at the pegasus' prospective intent. They were in Pinkie Pie's room, in near pitch blackness. Dash went wide-eyed... _is she hurt? If Crazy Dash has done anything to Pinkie Pie... Oh gosh, how am I going to explain this..._ The two locked eyes for the briefest of moments in mutual dread, before an idea flashed through Rainbow's mind. She tossed the knife to the side, and leant down a little, smirking, and whispered a single utterance to the terrified earth pony;

"... gotcha!" Pinkie just froze and blinked for a few moments, as the pegasus backed off her and hit the lights. She giggled, putting on her best happy face. "Hadja goin' there, didn't I?" She held her grin in hope. _Oh no... if she's traumatised, she's just going to freak out anyway... oh please don't be traumatised, please don't be traumatised..._ tense moments passed. Seconds felt like hours; her beaming began to slowly drip from her face as Pinkie's expression remain frozen in abject terror. Dash began to breathe in slowly, her heart sinking, starting to look down at the floor. _She is, isn't sh-_

"No, I got _YOU!_" Pinkie giggled, giving the pegasus a light bonk on the head, causing her to jump and scream in shock, knocking herself flat. "Silly filly, you can't outprank me!" Rainbow sighed deeply in relief. The door to the room swung open, and Mr. Cake rushed in.

"What's all this racket? Is something going on?"

"Dashie here thought she could scare me by coming into my room at night, but I got her instead! Heehee!" Pinkie bounced up on to her hooves, and back into her bed. Dash nodded fiercely to validate Pinkie's somewhat inaccurate claim.

"Oh, you two!" the old baker chuckled. "Now pipe down, it's the middle of the night!" He slammed the door again.

"So is this a sleepover? Do we get to have a..." Pinkie gasped. "_LATE NIGHT PARTY?_" She giggled excitedly, practically bouncing off the ceiling.

"Eh... sorry Pinkie, I don't think I can stay awake much longer. I'm really..." She yawned. "... tired..." She was playing her level of fatigue to a mundane level; this body hadn't eaten or slept right for two days, and she didn't like how it smelled right now either. Pinkie frowned. "It's just really, insanely late right now. I promise I'll make it up to you soon, okay?"

"Okie dokie lokie!" The pink pony jumped right onto her back, thumping against her bed and falling sound asleep on the spot. Somehow, the light switched off at the same time too. Rainbow quirked a brow and chuckled, flying home to get her first good, first-hand sleep in days.

* * *

><p>She was too tired to have her dreams perturbed by the events that permeated the last two days; she slept soundly, and as it turns out, overslept. She had meant to wake at sunrise and get to Twilight as soon as possible, but true to form, that didn't happen. Mercifully, there was no filming for the movie that day, so explaining the whole story and making the final jump home was as simple as toddling over to her library whenever the mood struck her. This was, however, going to be an interesting story to tell to the first Twilight.<p>

* * *

><p>"Rainbow, that's a mighty tall tale yer tellin' there." Applejack smirked, as the friends sat around Twilight's front room. "Ah coulda sworn there weren't nothin' out o' the ordinary last couple o' times ah talked to yer."<p>

"I assure you, everything she's saying is entirely possible, if my calculations are correct..." the unicorn chimed in, frantically searching through a number of books.

"Or are you just doubting me 'cos you think I'll start hitting on you?" Dash retorted with a chuckle. Applejack lowered her hat and blushed a little.

"Well now, yer a mighty fine gal, but uh... ah don't think mah barn door swings that way, if ya get what ah mean." Rainbow stuck her tongue out and giggled.

"So what are you gonna do with the suit now, Twilight? It's kinda useless, since using it messes stuff up..."

"It wasn't entirely useless... it was an interesting experiment, let's say."

"Pff, you weren't the one who was five minutes away from becoming..." before Dash could finish her sentence, the door burst open. Pinkie Pie lunged inside in her usual bombastic manner with a baking tray.

"Whooo wants cupcakes!" Rainbow Dash yelped at the mention and jumped to the ceiling, clinging to the lamp in terror. Twilight and Applejack just laughed.

THE END


End file.
